Local chefs recall their favorite Christmas Eve food and drinks

“My wife and I collect antiques, we collect arts, we collect recipes,” said Ryan, a longtime figure in the food-service industry and owner of Smashburger and Tom’s Urban. “We kind of use those as a way to decorate the holidays for us — iconic recipes that we’ve found someplace that have a story.”

On Christmas Eve, Ryan said, his three offspring come from far afield to the family’s home in Minneapolis, where his wife’s family lives. Three dishes define a cozy Christmas Eve for them: butternut squash and shrimp bisque, Irish potatoes and roasted whole filet mignon.

The bisque he encountered at Brigtsen’s Restaurant in New Orleans.

“I got one spoonful of this in my mouth and went, ‘Oh, my God, this is great,’ ” Ryan recalled. He mentioned it to a restaurant employee, who suggested he poke his head into the kitchen and sing its praises to chef Frank Brigtsen.

“He went over to his notebook, ripped the recipe out and handed it to me,” Ryan said. “Since then, years later, he’s put it online, but I was so impressed by how willing he was to give it away to somebody who really appreciated it. We’ve served it to a ton of friends. It’s now kind of our go-to during the holidays.”

Another favorite is Irish potatoes, which he encountered during a family trip to Ireland to celebrate their heritage.

“We sat down to a fabulous dinner of Irish lamb and Irish potatoes,” Ryan said. “Everybody took one bite and said it’s amazing how great this is, given how simple it is. That’s kind of what Irish country cooking is all about.”

Ryan said the potatoes pair well with prime rib or filet mignon.

“It’s a great comfort food for my family,” he said.

And then there’s the Christmas Eve beast.

“The holidays afford people the ability to cook really big on a large scale,” Ryan said.

The whole roasted filet mignon is a recipe he created himself.

“It’s just indulgent, it’s fun, it’s festive,” he said. “What I love about cooking this dish is you can spend time with everybody in the kitchen. Instead of having to actively cook something, you can have a glass of wine and chat, listen to music and whatever else you want.”

Joseph Zanelli, executive chef of Jardin, the newest restaurant at Wynn Las Vegas (it’s set to open Friday), said family traditions have a lot to do with his conception of Christmas Eve as well.

“Being from New England, it’s one of those holidays I always associate with seafood,” Zanelli said. “I would do some type of oysters Rockefeller, get a great oyster from somewhere down the Cape or Maine, turn it into a Rockefeller with some salt pork or bacon, with a nice sparkling wine to start.

“And then I’d go to one-pot type of cooking, whether it’s rustic braised chicken thighs with onions and mushrooms — like Chicken Grand Mere-style — or a Thai curry with potatoes, vegetables, chicken, maybe a couple different types of curry in there, Madras and red.

“They’re soulful foods. They’re warm and inviting and to me, cozy means a shared element. And once you get them going and they’re on low, they’re kind of hanging out and you can go watch football, you can open gifts, you can have a drink.”

Plus, Zanelli said, such dishes can be held in slow cookers, and are even better the next day.

Like Ryan, Christmas Eve brings to mind family recipes for Tony Abou-Ganim, but of a different sort.

“I grew up in a bar family in Michigan, and that’s where I learned to tend bar,” said Abou-Ganim, a nationally recognized bar professional known as the Modern Mixologist. His Aunt Helen David and her mother opened the Brass Rail in Port Huron, Mich., in 1937, after the death of their husband and father. His aunt ran the bar until she was 91 years old.

“She was quite a lady,” Abou-Ganim said.

And when he thinks of Christmas Eve, he thinks of his Aunt Helen and her Tom and Jerrys.

“It’s an old drink that goes way back,” he said. “She discovered them in Detroit, where she would go out with her girlfriends for the holidays.”

The Tom and Jerry is served warm, and Abou-Ganim conceded that Las Vegas isn’t exactly as cold as Michigan.

“Rarely do we see any snow, but it can get pretty chilly in the winter at night,” he said. “A nice steaming mug of Tom and Jerry is the perfect way to warm you up. It makes you feel warm and fuzzy on the inside, like a hug or a blanket.”

Rick Moonen, executive chef/proprietor of RM Seafood and Rx Boiler Room at Mandalay Bay, also has a traditional holiday beverage.

“I don’t drink eggnog very often,” he said, adding that he likes a “good, strong, delicious, well-balanced eggnog.” He makes it with eggs, half cream and half milk (he used goat milk the last time), maple syrup instead of sugar, and dark Pyrat Rum.

“With good music and a hearty beef soup — vegetable-beef soup with barley or farro — there’s nothing like it,” Moonen said.

“Very romantic and very nice. It’s a wonderful, wonderful, cozy Christmas Eve.”

SHRIMP AND BUTTERNUT SQUASH BISQUE

2 cups fresh or frozen shell-on raw shrimp, peeled and diced (reserve shells for stock)

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 cups diced yellow onions

1 bay leaf

4 cups butternut squash (peeled, seeded and diced into ½-inch cubes)

2 1/4 teaspoons salt

3/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper

1/2 cup shrimp stock (see recipe; chicken stock or water also can be used)

6 cups heavy whipping cream

Flat leaf parsley for garnish

To make shrimp stock: Add 1 cup of water to the shrimp shells and bring to a boil. Simmer until reduced by half. Strain.

Heat the butter in a heavy-duty saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and bay leaf and cook, stirring constantly, until the onions are soft and translucent, 3 to 5 minutes.

Reduce heat to medium and add the diced butternut squash. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the squash softens, 6 to 8 minutes.

Reduce heat to low and add the shrimp, salt, cayenne and white pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the shrimp turn pink, 3 to 5 minutes.

Add the shrimp stock and cook, stirring occasionally, 6 to 8 minutes. If the mixture sticks to the pan, scrape with a wooden spoon and keep cooking; this just intensifies the flavors.

Remove the bay leaf and discard. Transfer the mixture to a food processor or blender and puree. Return the puree to the saucepan and add the cream. Whisk until thoroughly blended. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Serve piping hot with a whole parsley leaf garnish.

Serves 6.

— Recipe from Frank Brigtsen (via Tom Ryan)

IRISH POTATOES WITH LEEKS AND CREAM

5 to 6 large or 8 to 9 small yellow potatoes, peeled, washed and sliced thin (1/16-1/8 inch)

2 large or 4 small leeks, trimmed (keep 1 inch of the green), washed and sliced into ’…›-inch circles, separated

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 pint heavy cream

Place a layer of sliced potatoes in the bottom of a 9-by-12-inch casserole dish (or equivalent), followed by a layer of sliced, separated leeks. Salt and pepper liberally. Repeat this process two more times and then finish with a final layer of potatoes.

Gently pour the cream over the top and bake at 325 to 350 degrees for about an hour, or until the cream is bubbly and browned on top. (This dish can also be made in individual ramekins the same way if a more elegant presentation is desired.)

— Recipe from Tom Ryan

OVEN-ROASTED WHOLE FILET MIGNON WITH ROSEMARY-SHALLOT DEMI-GLACE

For demi-glace:

1 stick unsalted butter (1/4 pound)

5 to 6 shallots, finely minced

2 quarts beef stock

Trim from filet, or ½ pound beef trim from the butcher (see note)

2 to 3 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

For roast:

1 whole filet mignon (see note)

2 tablespoons olive oil

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

For demi-glace, melt 1/3 of the butter in a large saucepan. Add the shallots and saute until translucent. Add the beef stock and beef trim and slowly cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. When reduced to about 2 cups, strain and return to saucepan. Bring to a boil and add the remaining butter and rosemary and salt and pepper, to taste. Set aside.

For roast, heat oven to 325 degrees. Paint the outside of the filet with olive oil, then salt and pepper liberally. Heat a large skillet or frying pan and sear the filet to a crispy brown on all sides (you may have to bend it a bit to get it all in). Transfer to a roasting pan and place a meat thermometer in the center. Roast until thermometer reads 140 degrees, typically about 45 to 55 minutes, then remove from oven and let stand in the roasting pan for 15 to 20 minutes. Add any debris or juices to the demi-glace.

Warm demi-glace. Slice the filet 3/4 inch thick, place on warmed plates and pour demi-glace over the slices.

Note: I buy a whole filet mignon still in the bag from my butcher or supermarket meat counter. This requires that you trim the roast yourself and remove all of the silverskin. I use the trim to make the base for the demi-glace. (If this is too ambitious, your butcher will trim this for you ready to roast.) Wrap the trimmed filet in plastic wrap and let it come to room temperature, about 2 hours, before searing/roasting.

— Recipe from Tom Ryan

HELEN’S TOM AND JERRY

For batter:

8 jumbo eggs

½ teaspoon cream of tartar

1½ cups powdered sugar

For drinks:

Appleton Jamaican Rum

Hennessey VS Cognac

Hot water

Freshly grated nutmeg

Separate egg whites and yolks. In a large mixer, beat yolks until thin; transfer to another bowl. Clean mixer and add the egg whites and cream of tartar and beat until stiff. Add powdered sugar and fold in yolks. Mix until batter is thick, but light.

For each drink, put 1 heaping ladle of batter in a heated mug, then add ¾ ounce rum and ¾ ounce cognac. Top with hot water and dust with nutmeg. Serve with a paddle or spoon.

Note: The recipe makes 12 or, as Abou-Ganim’s Aunt Helen said, “serves four friends, three each!” He said the key to success is to always use fresh batter; each drink should be made and served while the batter is still light and fluffy. He remembers his aunt unpacking her three commercial mixers on Thanksgiving and keeping them spinning until New Year’s Day. At home, he uses a Kitchen-Aid 4.5-quart tilt-head mixer for the batter.

—Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com. Find more of her stories at reviewjournal.com, and follow @HKRinella on Twitter.